The Iron Man 3 star allegedly wrote an email to her celebrity friends asking them not to speak to the magazine. "Vanity Fair is threatening to put me on the cover of their magazine," Paltrow reportedly wrote in May this year, a witness who saw the email tells the Times. "If you are asked for quotes or comments, please decline. Also, I recommend you all never do this magazine again."

What does Paltrow have against Vanity Fair? The Times speculates that stars are getting increasingly upset over Vanity Fair's criticism of Hollywood in issues such as their report on the difficulties Brad Pitt's World War Z had getting made, and the impact Scientology had onTom Cruise's marriage.

The magazine's editor, Graydon Carter, however, defended their coverage in a statement to the Times: "We wouldn't be doing our job if there wasn't a little bit of tension between Vanity Fair and its subjects. In any given week, I can expect to hear from a disgruntled subject in Hollywood, Washington, or on Wall Street. That's the nature of the beast."